Hi dizzy and welcome to Gente. Are you looking for living relatives or are you trying to go further back and find out your grandfathers siblings, parents, grandparents etc. Let us know and we'll see if we can lend a hand.

Oh you wonderful person - I am looking for his siblings/parents etc to get me started. I know his Dad married a Rosita Esposito and that they grew oranges and lemons I think, but no much more than that I am afraid. Makes it very difficult from this distance

If you can answer a few questions so we have a little more info to go on. Your grandfather was Antonino Ercolano from Massa Lubrense Napoli.....what year was he born? Was he married when he went to New Zealand in 1905? His wifes full name (maiden). What year did he marry? What was his fathers full name? Did any relatives follow to New Zealand or was there already relatives there....if so what was the relation to your grandfather? Did he remain in New Zealand or did he travel and settle somewhere else? Can you upload the ships manifest you have showing his arrival in New Zealand?

The more information you can give us the easier it will be to try and help out.

father and mother of Antonino Ercolano born 6/8/1883 in San Danielle, Massalubranzo are Pasqale Ercolano and Rosa Esposito whom I would assume were born around 1960. As far as I know no one travelled with him. I understand he sailed from Naples to Victoria in Australia aboard the Ophir in 1905. Grandad married in NZ and although he returned to Italy several times for short holidays - he remained in NZ and is buried in a cemetery in Nelson. As far as I know when he first arrived in Nelson he boarded with Italian families. I have not been able to trace his arrival in NZ but his epitaph says arrived in 1905 so I would assume he came straigt over from Australia to Nelson, maybe even on the Ophir, although I cannot find any records to prove this. As stated before I think his parents grew fruit. I am sorry I cannot give you more information than that but both Nana and grandad died some years ago and the next generation has all gone too so there is no-one to ask for help.

Hi dizzy I need to try and clarify something. There is no Massa Lubranza or Massalubranzo Italy there is, however, Massa Lubrense, province of Campania, region of Naples. You also stated he was born in San Danielle......there is a San Daniele, province of Udine, region of Friuli-Venezia GiuliaMassa Lubrense and San Daniele are in different provinces and regions. Do you know which one of the two it is? If we can pin point which place is correct you'll be able to write to request family records since you know both of his parents names.

I did a quick search on ancestry and found a family tree for Antonio Ercolano but not much info. Would this happen to be your grandfather?

yes that is him - another family member tried but with no joy, hence my effort. I am away from home at the moment, on holiday in Australia. I will need to get back to you when I get home, but am pretty sure that his death certificate shows Massa Lubrense, probably just the way us kiwis interpreted his words so sorry for that. Will send details again when I get home in 2 weeks. - will give details from his marriage and death certificates which I have copies of. Thank you so much for your help.

That's fantastic dizzy. When you get home we can help you compose a letter to Massa Lubrense requesting records for your grandfather, siblings and great grandparents. I know what you mean about people writing the way they hear a name or name of a town.....mispellings happened all the time. Shoot a line when you're back from holiday and take a picture of a koala for me Have fun.

Hi Ashleigh, have been looking for your Mums address and phone number to see if she can help me at all, whether Nana's side or grandads. My email address is dscot @ slingshot.co.nz and my phone number is 07 8557713. Do you think you could ask mum if she would mind my having her address and phone number so we can catch up??? I have looked in phone directory etc but cannot find her???

Hi Elizabeth - His story according to Newpaper clipping is he was born at Massa, Lubranzo Italy in 1883. His parents had a lemon, grape, olive and mixed fruit farm. He left Italy and arrived in Wellington New Zealand in 1905. His death certificate shows exactly the same spelling. His marriage certificate shows his parents as Pasqale Ercolano (planter) and Rosa Esposito. Place of birth shows just as Italy.
On my mothers birth certificate he shows as Antonino Ercolano 36m born Massalubrenzo, Sorrento, Italy. Does this help??? I am trying to get a copy of his old Italian passport from a family member but apparently this is very fragile so I amy not be able to get.

Hi Dizzy. I had some personal things going on the past two weeks sorry I didn't post to you. Was waiting to see what info you got from your cousin that's posting. I see you posted that Sorrento was mentioned. Here is a map showing Sorrento and Massa Lubrense.....they are very near each other en.comuni-italiani.it/...mappa.html and I'm 100 % positive Massa Lubrense is the correct spelling. You can use this site www.circolocalabrese.o...civile.asp for the letter to request his birth act (all requests must be made in Italian) After the letter translates you will want to change it to integrale copia to get the full version which will include his parents full names, their ages etc. If you need help after it translates you can post it to the translation forum here on Gente and someone will help you modify it to get the correct documentation. You'll need to include a self addressed envelope with Italian stamps in the envelope. You can get Italian stamps here at Gente. Go to the main forums page and look to the left.....you'll see the section for stamps.

Once you get the document you'll be able to figure out the approximate years that his parents were born and can request birth acts for each of them or certificate's of the family which will give you all of their childrens info, their parents info etc. You do get charged for every record they find and send so it could be costly for family certificates. Hope this helps and let us know if you have any questions or need help.

Antiono Ercolano is my great gradfather, one of his daughters Hillary Burgess ( my grandmother ) is still alive. If you have any questions you would like to ask her she may have a bit more information to add to the topic.

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